(Newser)
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Dick Cheney ordered the CIA to withhold information from Congress about a secret counterterrorism program for 8 years, CIA chief Leon Panetta has told congressional intelligence committees. The revelation, leaked by two intelligence insiders to the New York Times, serves the latest volley in the fierce dispute over how fully CIA officers briefed Congress on sensitive anti-terror operations.

Last month, Panetta ended the program, which intelligence and congressional officials insist wasn’t fully operational, and didn’t involve CIA interrogations or domestic spying. Cheney has been the Bush administration’s most ardent defender of covert government action, frustrating FBI agents and taking his fight to the Supreme Court. Federal law allows some leeway, but requires the president to inform Congress of intelligence activities.

Shonangreg, Any specific information released tells our enemies more than it tells us. It allows them to begin chasing the sources of that info within their own ranks or, in this case harden the potential targets. That get US operatives killed because their job becomes more hazardous. The Times has done this country harm in this way countless times in the past eight years specifically because they didn't like Bush. FYI I worked as a small fry in military intelligence for a few years.

Cat-Lover

Jul 12, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

So, it's beginning to appear as if Nancy Pelosi wasn't lying when she said the CIA withheld information. Now we know that not only did the CIA withhold information, they probably lied about the information they did have.